Hot Lunch

Tom at Iced Tea Forever sometimes posts about different foods he makes, such as corn bread and grilled chicken. He said it's funny, if you post about something, people take you to be an expert at it. So people see him as a great cook, even though he knew nearly nothing about cooking when he got married and hasn't learned that much beyond what he's posted.

I don't expect anyone to think I'm a great cook if I post about food, but I did have a certain sense of accomplishment yesterday after doing my annual duty of serving a hot lunch to 30 people at our church school. I felt especially heroic since I was running a low fever and coming down with the flu that I have in full force today. But enough martyrdom.

The secret of successful cooking, for me, is to flounder around until I find something that turns out well, consistently, and then make it all the time.

Here's my menu, with recipes:

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes for 30
Peel, cut up, cook, and mash about 17 lbs. of potatoes. Throw in guilty amounts of butter, sour cream, plain yogurt, and cream cheese. Add salt and pepper and some garlic powder. Keep it warm in a crock pot.

Meat Loaf
Quadruple the recipe in the Mennonite Country-Style Recipes cookbook.

Corn
Thaw and cook two bags of home-processed corn from last summer. (I ran into trouble here because NONE of the burners in the church kitchen would work. At all. I checked the breakers and called for help and ended up cooking the corn in the microwave.)

Aunt Margaret's Famous Cabbage Salad
Crush 1 package chicken ramen noodles.
Shred 1/2 head of cabbage.
Stir together 1/2 cup mayo and the seasoning packet from the ramen.
Combine the cabbage, ramen noodles, and 1/4 cup sunflower seeds.
Stir in the mayo mixture.
Serve immediately.

Butterhorns
Evening: Dissolve 1 T. sugar and 1 T. yeast in 1 cup warm water.
Cream together 3 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1 t. salt, 1/2 cup sugar.
Add yeast mixture.
Add 4 1/2 cups flour.
Set it in the fridge overnight.
Morning: Divide the dough in two. Roll out each half into an approximate circle.
Cut the circle into 16 pieces like a pizza.
Roll up each piece, beginning with the wide end, and put it on a cookie sheet.
Noon: Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Aunt Bonnie's Ice Cream Dessert
Crush about half a pack of generic Oreos, mix with 1/3 cup melted butter, and press on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
Chill it for a bit and then fill the pan nearly full of vanilla ice cream.
Dump a bunch of chocolate syrup on the ice cream. (Fudgy topping is best but any will do)
Sprinkle a bunch of peanuts on top.
If you want yet more decadence, put whipped topping and a few more Oreo crumbs on top of that.

Then after working for two days to make all this stuff, transport it to school, and serve it, you get to watch it disappear in 15 minutes.

But this makes it all worthwhile:

Quote of the Day:
"Thank you, Mrs. Smucker, it was really good!"
--various students